I hate the short days and I hate the time change. I need light to keep me going. After a day’s work, when I come home after dark - even if it is only 6 pm - I just don’t have the energy to do anything, inside or out. I need to work out - can’t bring myself to go to the gym. I need to organize my closet - can’t bring myself to do that during the week. All I want to do is watch TV and read the paper. Then I feel like I am wasting my life. I miss the summer!
Do you have any coping strategies, or ways you motivate yourself to leave your house on a cold, dark evening?
How about seeing if there is an exercise class or yoga class you can go straight from work? Even if it’s only a few days during the week.
You also might try to walk during your lunch hour, so you are getting some sunlight during the day.
I don’t work so do all my exercising/walking outside etc., during the day so I don’t mind vegging out come 4 or 5pm.
To get us out of the house on cold winter weekend nights, we got a theatre subscription. Can’t use the excuse that Its too cold not to go out like we used to do after we had decided to go to the movies.
Since the time change I want to go to bed at 7pm! I do walk my dog every morning at 6am and then I play tennis a couple nights a week. Tennis is good because I would be letting people down if I back out. Maybe sign up for some sort of class at the gym?
I do go to yoga straight from work one night a week. The studio is close to my office.
When the kids were home, of course I left the house at night to drive them to lessons, games, events. But now that I don’t have to leave the house in the dark, I don’t want to.
Maybe I should take workout clothes and drive straight to the gym, even though it is close to my house. It seems silly to dress in a locker room, but it may work, to keep me from melting into the couch as soon as I get home.
Maybe find some activities that you can’t wait to get to. For me that’s chorus rehearsal and sewing class. Something with more allure than the gym. But if you don’t want to go out for anything, why make yourself?
We’re currently sitting at home in a snowstorm mourning the loss of the opportunity to go to a show. It would have been hard enough to go out in the dark and the cold, but with a few inches of snow on the unplowed roads, it’s just not going to happen.
I am exactly the same way, OP. And I have to come right home from work because I need to let the dog out. I do take her for walks, but she is old and it’s just a sniff-fest stroll, so no exercise. I’m thinking of getting an exercise bike and banning myself from the TV unless I’m on it.
I’m going to guess that you REALLY aren’t dying to go exercise. Right or wrong??
I think you need to add more to your routine - have to do’s and want to do’s. You need to go home with a game plan - just like you probably do at work - you go in to work and have a to-do list even if it gets disrupted.
If you look at a big task - like cleaning out your closet - it isn’t going to get done. How about one night clean out your shoes? One night review your sweaters. Break that big task into smaller tasks.
Here’s my evening tonight after getting home from work:
Sort mail
Change clothes and get clothes ready for tomorrow including exercise clothes
Did a 30 minute strength training workout.
Spend an hour on a painting task I’m working on - only one step of a multi-step project
Made a simple dinner
Took the dog for a walk
It’s 8 now so I’ll finally eat dinner and watch a little tv.
That gives me probably 2 1/2 hours left to eat, watch tv, check computer and my favorite thing before bed (and before reading) watch my favorite Instagram stories.
Do you have a treadmill or bike at home? I hate going out after dark. You might be able to talk yourself into working out if it’s at home with a TV to watch at the same time.
I do not like going out at night. I work 12 hour shifts so I start and end work in the dark. I just bought a light machine. I definitely feel more tired. Some good suggestions here.
I keep gym clothes and swim stuff in my car so I can go straight to the gym/pool from work. I make sure everything’s in there (gym socks and headphones are easy to forget). Otherwise, I’d just make dinner, eat, watch TV and do nothing else. I’m pretty far north, so our days are less than 9h now. I recently got a Philips Somneo alarm clock that has a ‘sunrise’ and ‘sunset’ feature to help with my sleep schedule.
I totally hear you. The couch has a hypnotic pull. Upright and functional feels inappropriate. There are so many projects that would feel great to accomplish, books to read, languages to study. Making a phone call takes some deliberation. If it were not for my mostly high energy and on task behavior on days off, I’d think something was seriously wrong.
Last winter I signed up for personal training at the gym, and that got me moving that single day of the week. I can do the workouts sans a trainer, but getting there is the problem. Days off, I walk for miles outside. My job is so physically demanding that even folks decades younger complain about their evening motivation, But if an event is planned, I find the energy and have a fine time, if sometimes mute for a time right after work.
If exercise is your main gripe that you’re not “getting done” in the evening there are many ways to try and make that happen - from the personal trainer idea (you can’t not show up when someone is waiting for you!) to going with a buddy to going straight from work.
I got the impression that you were frustrated that NOTHING productive was happening after work. That’s an overall motivation issue.
Or maybe you’re just looking to see who else is suffering from this lack of productivity - but not really seeking solutions?
I have a co-worker who gets her schedule changed every time there is a time change. So, from November through April, she goes to work from 7:30 to 4:30 and from April through November, she goes to work from 8:30 to 5:30.
We kind of have the routine dialed in here in the Seattle area with our 8 hours of grey twilight. Take a big dose of caffeine around 3 pm, then a big glass of wine around 9 to get to sleep. 100% serious. Better living through chemistry.
I get up earlier this time of year and take care of some household chores before I get ready for work. I try to go to the gym in the middle of the day and stay later at work. If I do a few errands on the way home, it’s late enough when I get home that after I eat, the downtime seems just right for unwinding. And of course, that’s all I want to do then anyway!
If I get home with stuff to do, I am not in the mood. Although lists do help me!
